LETTERS
2003 LETTERS
December
November
October
September
July/August
June
May
April
March
February
January
ARTICLES
NEWS
ROAMIN' CATHOLIC
Contents © 2003
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.
LETTERS
July/August 2003
FATHER X LACKS COURAGE
Your May 2003 issue published an article entitled, "Look Happy," written by Charles A. Coulombe. In that article the author quoted from a "Father X, a locally-based liturgist who studied in Rome."
I will not quibble with Father X's knowledge of liturgy or comment on the contents of the article, but I found it strange that Father X could be so bold and free in his comments and not have the courage to state his name.
As a bishop I often receive unsigned letters containing bold words. When the writer offers criticism, often in scurrilous language, without a signature, name or address, the letters find their place in the waste basket.
I suggest that Father X reflect on the manly example of St. Paul. He spoke boldly and made sure that everyone knew the writings contained both his signature and his name. Father X might recall that "courage" is still one of the gifts of the Spirit!
Joseph M. Sartoris,
Archdiocese of Los Angeles,
Bishop emeritus
Editor replies: While it may be true that, normally, anonymous criticism implies cowardice, this is not the case where one has good reason to remain anonymous and yet speak out on an issue. Bishop Sartoris would know better than I what repercussions a priest might face who dared to criticize Cardinal Mahony in the pages of the Los Angeles Mission. Even priests from outside the archdiocese have been unwilling to use their names in interviews with us for fear of what their own bishops might do. In the heterodox atmosphere of the Catholic Church in Southern California, orthodox priests have an important ministry that they cannot jeopardize by needless recklessness. But, yet, at times they must speak.
Bishop Sartoris is unwilling to comment either on what Father X said or on the contents of the article. Instead, His Grace contents himself with attacking the character of Father X. He thus skirts the issues and focuses on a personality -- a very clerical foible, it is true, but hardly the more palatable for that. It would have been helpful and, perhaps, enlightening, if Bishop Sartoris had developed a defense of Cardinal Mahony's liturgical vagary of celebrating Easter in Lent; but then, again, maybe Sartoris himself disagrees with the cardinal on this point. But if Sartoris disagrees with the cardinal, and does not say so -- even while giving his name -- what do we call that? Is Bishop Sartoris himself afraid to criticize the cardinal, publicly, and in the pages of the Los Angeles Mission?
But, perhaps, Bishop Sartoris disagrees with the points made in the article. But, if so, why doesn't he say so? Is the bishop's letter an example of attacking the message by attacking the messenger? After all, Father X's identity is not so important; his general observations remain true, or false, whether or not we know his name.
CORRECTION
Apropos of the article, "Just Who is Outdated?" in your June 2003 issue, we have checked; and according to our first assistant in Rome, there has never been a Marianist by the name of Romulo Braschi. Our superior general and first assistant believe this should be clarified to your constituency.
Rev. Theodore C. Ley, SM,
Chaminade Preparatory,
West Hills and Chatsworth
Editor replies: What we wrote about Romulo Braschi, the alleged bishop who "ordained" Ida Raming, Gisela Forster, and other women candidates, was based on a statement issued by Forster. The statement reads: "Mgr. Braschi was born in Argentina in 1942. In 1966 he was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Buenos Aires. He was a member of the Marian Catholic religious Congregation" ["das Marianischen katholischen Ordens" in Forster's original German.] It appears that Braschi's Marian order is not the Rev. Ley's Marianist order. We thank Father Ley for the clarification.
BERTRAM IS RIGHT
Mr. Bertram said that these "Johnny-come-lately attacks against Pius XII are unjust." [See "It Was Cold," June Mission.] The truth of this remark can be seen in the fact that the principal rabbi of Rome became a Catholic and was baptized on February 17, 1945, due to the kindness of the Church and the Italian people. His name is Israel (Eugenio) Zolli, and he wrote a book, Before the Dawn, about this period of time and his conversion.
Joseph A. Nicassio
Valencia
MARRIED, WOMEN PRIESTS, NOW!
I was delighted to see the full-page coverage of the Rev. Dr. Ida Raming of Germany, speaking at the (Methodist) Claremont School of Theology last April [see "Just Who Is Outdated?"]. I think that we are going to be seeing more ordained Catholic women (and Catholic men who could have been priests), but who, because of the present sorry state of the Catholic priesthood, are not ordained but still have advanced theological degrees and credentials from Protestant seminaries.
I believe that the point of no return has been reached for men not going into or even being admitted to Catholic seminaries. Due to the huge and out-of-control sexual pedophiles in the priesthood, the screening and psychological exams that a young man will have to go through will force many, if not most, to choose some other way to express their calls to ministry.
Since almost all Jewish and Protestant seminaries are open to everyone who want to study, more Catholic men and women are going to reject convents and priesthood for a wider, individualized, and more fulfilling vocation in the 21st century church that is now broader than the fossilized church of Rome. Catholic seminaries are closing all over the world! Ireland alone is down to only one seminary operating out of an Irish university. England is down to only two Catholic seminaries. And Protestant seminaries are doing just fine!
It is time for the Catholic bishops all over the world to clear up the pedophile priest problems, now. Stop hiring mafia, crooked lawyers to fight the victims. This is the time for married priests who are men and women or the Catholic Church is going to slowly dry up and disappear.
Dr. Alan Albert Snow,
Balboa Island
Editor replies: Dr. Snow might be interested to know that the Catholic seminaries, religious orders, and congregations that espouse, among other orthodox doctrines and disciplines, the male-only priesthood and clerical celibacy, are growing. It is those groups within the Church that embrace the heterdoxies of the likes of Ida Raming and her admirers at Call to Action and the Women's Ordination Conference that are graying and drying up. The spring belongs to orthodoxy, Dr. Snow, not to the worn progressivism of the last century! And as for Protestantism, it has been my impression that those denominations that have become the most progressive are precisely those whose membership is aging and shrinking. If the Catholic Church adopts the model of these churches -- imminentizing the transcendent, muddying moral distinctions, abandoning tradition -- then she will, indeed, grow as fossilized and utterly irrelevant as they are now.